In Czechoslovakia (what is now
known as the Czech Republic), there lived a man who had a son, named
Sam. They were very poor people. The rich people in the village
decided to have a program where all the poor children could have a
delicious meal on Friday and Saturday, and the poor children would be
able to stay over at the rich people's houses.

There was a rich man called
Mr. Grinch, who had some rumors about him, one of which, according to
Sam's friends, was that, "Mr. Grinch never gave that much food",
even though he was very rich, but was selfish. Soon, it was Sam's
turn to go to Mr. Grinch's house to have a fresh meal so he
wouldn't have to starve the whole week.

On Cover Street, in this small
village, was the house of Mr. Grinch. He lived at the last house on
the corner. To Sam it looked like a huge house, very
huge house. The house was three stories high, and was rumored to have
about a thousand bedrooms, but in reality it had only ten or more
bedrooms. The door was made out of a soft kind of wood, oak to be
exact. Sam's breath was taken away by the most beautiful house on
the street, even if he was invited for just a few hours.

Sam rang the bell and a
servant opened the big oak door. The servant was wearing the most
fashionable clothes that came from France. The blouse was white and
clean and the pants were made out of pure silk and looked so soft.
Sam began to look at his dirty old shirt and pants that weren't as
soft at all and felt embarrassed and out of place, but he was at
least warm in them.

Sam went into the foyer, where
the couch was made out of soft material. The table came from France,
and the tea set was made in England. The tea set and the couch had a
lot of flowers imprinted all over them. For Sam, the flowers were in
so many different colors, which were so bright; Sam couldn't even
describe how beautiful the set was. He couldn't even name most of
the colors on the set. Since it was a beautiful set, he wanted to
touch the tea set, but he didn't for fear of breaking it, and that
his father would have to replace a new one. Sam bore that in mind,
and decided against his will to touch the tea set.

Dinner was ready in the next
room. For starters they had soup, which was the tastiest vegetable
soup that Sam had ever tasted. He remembered what his friends had
told him about Mr. Grinch, who was sitting across the table. Mr.
Grinch had gray hair and big brown eyes. He was an old man who never
had children. He was wearing the finest clothes from France;
everything was made out of silk. Mr. Grinch may be old, but he was a
nice, humble, and modest person, who made a living as a doctor. And
he enjoyed seeing children, like Sam.

Since Sam remembered the
gossip about Mr. Grinch, he began asking very politely for "more
soup, please." He had at least a hundred or even two hundred bowls
of soup as Sam knew he wouldn't be able to eat that much food the
whole week until the following Friday. After he had enough soup to
please his stomach, the main meal, chicken and fish, came out. Sam
couldn't eat any more.

Sam eyes literally bulged out
of his head, for the rumors weren't even true. So when Mr. Grinch
finished eating (which took fifteen more minutes) Sam said "Thanks
for the meal" and waited until next Friday to come to another
person's house. Sam learned a new lesson; never listen to rumors,
for the ones who tell the rumors are bound to want something in
return. For Sam's friends were jealous of him for going to Mr.
Grinch.

So, remember the moral of the
story. Never listen to rumors, for they are bound to be untrue. Sam
also learned to never judge a book by its cover, from rumors that may
be spread around by people who are jealous and want to hurt someone
really badly. And the next time when Sam went to Mr. Grinch, he ate
like a king, knowing that Mr. Grinch would never be the selfish man
which people thought of him, or not give enough food, as Sam's
friends said about him.

--The-End for Tale 1--

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.